Results 11,621-11,640 of 40,330 for speaker:Leo Varadkar

Written Answers — Department of Health: Medical Aids and Appliances Provision (25 Sep 2014)

Leo Varadkar: In relation to the particular patient query raised by the Deputy, as this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to him directly.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Waiting Lists (25 Sep 2014)

Leo Varadkar: The National Waiting List Management Policy, A standardised approach to managing scheduled care treatment for in-patient, day case and planned procedures, January 2014,has been developed to ensure that all administrative, managerial and clinical staff follow an agreed national minimum standard for the management and administration of waiting lists for scheduled care. This policy, which has...

Written Answers — Department of Health: National Lottery Funding Applications (25 Sep 2014)

Leo Varadkar: My Department has received an application for funding from the 2014 National Lottery allocation from the organisation in question. This is one of a large number of applications currently being assessed by my Department. The organisation will be informed of the outcome of the application as soon as a decision has been made.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Services for People with Disabilities (25 Sep 2014)

Leo Varadkar: As I have no direct role in this matter, I have forwarded your question to the HSE for direct reply.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Appointment Status (25 Sep 2014)

Leo Varadkar: The scheduling of appointments for patients is a matter for the hospital to which the patient has been referred. Should a patient's general practitioner consider that the patient's condition warrants an earlier appointment, he or she would be in the best position to take the matter up with the consultant and hospital involved. In relation to the specific case raised by the Deputy, as this is...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Cancer Incidence (25 Sep 2014)

Leo Varadkar: The Deputy's question relates to service delivery matters and accordingly I have asked the HSE to respond directly to him.

Written Answers — Department of Health: Speech and Language Therapy (25 Sep 2014)

Leo Varadkar: As I have no direct role in this matter, I have forwarded your question to the HSE for direct reply.

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Disability Support Services Provision (25 Sep 2014)

Leo Varadkar: I thank Senator Moran for raising this issue. I am taking this debate on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, who is unavoidably absent as she is attending a conference today. The named individual is a service user of St. John of God Services, Drumcar, County Louth, and it is from this organisation that she has received all her services to date. I am informed that she...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Disability Support Services Provision (25 Sep 2014)

Leo Varadkar: I appreciate that this very severe case is genuine, and I acknowledge that the Senator has raised the matter and taken up this cause. This is a disability matter. I will mention this debate to the Minister of State, Deputy Lynch, and inform her of the exchange. I wish to be straight up about this. I do not think it should be the role of the Minister for Health or the Minister of State at...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Disability Support Services Provision (25 Sep 2014)

Leo Varadkar: I appreciate that clarification, because there are Deputies and Senators who ask me to intervene in such cases.

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Disability Support Services Provision (25 Sep 2014)

Leo Varadkar: That is fine. I fully accept the clarification. What it means is that this is a matter for the Estimates process and the service plan. As the Senator is aware, the HSE is running over budget under almost all headings. The Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, and I are working very hard to secure a realistic budget for next year so that in the 21 days after the budget we can develop a...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Disability Support Services Provision (25 Sep 2014)

Leo Varadkar: There are many crisis places.

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Nursing Homes Support Scheme Applications (25 Sep 2014)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Senator for raising the issue. I am taking this Adjournment matter on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, who has responsibility for older people and who is speaking at a health-related conference. The nursing homes support scheme is a system of financial support for individuals who require long-term nursing home care. Anyone who is ordinarily resident in the...

Seanad: Adjournment Matters: Nursing Homes Support Scheme Applications (25 Sep 2014)

Leo Varadkar: I cannot confirm the detail of what the Senator has said, but the basic point he makes is correct. The scheme's funding is constrained, as it was cut this year. As a result, the waiting time has slipped from about four weeks, which most people found to be reasonably acceptable, to 15 or 16 weeks, which people find unacceptable. They are right to find it unacceptable. As things stand, that...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: HSE Expenditure (30 Sep 2014)

Leo Varadkar: I thank the Deputy for his words of congratulations. Vote 39 for the Health Service Executive, HSE, is showing a net current deficit of €260 million against profile at the end of September. However, receipts from the United Kingdom which were profiled for November were received in September and when they are excluded, a net current deficit of €432 million emerges. In income...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: HSE Expenditure (30 Sep 2014)

Leo Varadkar: One should not make the mistake of believing serious problems in one area reflect the position throughout the health service. I look at the figures for the numbers of patients on trolleys every day and while there is an overcrowding problem in Limerick, the figures on a given day may show that half of perhaps 50 or 60 patients on trolleys are in three hospitals and another ten hospitals may...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: HSE Expenditure (30 Sep 2014)

Leo Varadkar: Two weeks from now, Ministers will know what their budgets will be. At that point, they will be able to determine how their allocations should be spent and will obviously have to identify priorities. The nature of health and all areas of public expenditure is that everyone believes his or her priorities should be the main ones, but the nature of politics is that decisions must be taken on...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Ebola Virus Outbreak (30 Sep 2014)

Leo Varadkar: On 8 August 2014, the World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak in west Africa to be a public health emergency of international concern. As of 24 September 2014, the cumulative number of cases attributed to Ebola in the five affected west African countries stood at 6,263, including 2,917 deaths. There have been no cases of Ebola in Ireland. The focus of public health planning...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Ebola Virus Outbreak (30 Sep 2014)

Leo Varadkar: I appreciate the Deputy's concerns about the Ebola outbreak. The outbreak in West Africa is very serious. Our main efforts are obviously to support the work taking place there through the Department of Foreign Affairs, the World Health Organization, the European Commission and various aid agencies on the ground. We must issue travel advice and have measures in place to identify a case...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Ebola Virus Outbreak (30 Sep 2014)

Leo Varadkar: There are many questions there and I do not believe I will be able to answer them all in the minute allowed, unfortunately. With regard to the national isolation unit in the Mater hospital, there is a self-contained unit with 12 beds. These include six lobbied en-suite single rooms with negative pressure ventilation so the virus cannot spread through the air. Two of the isolation rooms are...